Tony Lastoria Archive

It was a busy news days on Wednesday as the Braves inked Nick Markakis and Jim Johnson to deals, Luke Hochevar resigned with the Royals and the Mariners and Blue Jays completed an interesting trade swapping Michael Saunders for J.A. Happ. But the big news of the day for Indians fans was the rumor that surfaced about the Indians and Athletics talking about a Brandon Moss trade. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from the day...

In this week’s edition of “Coach’s Corner” the IBI's Tony Lastoria had a chance to sit down with short season Single-A Mahoning Valley hitting coach Phil Clark. They talked about the immediate impression that 2014 first round pick Bradley Zimmer made to the organization and what he excels at, the big strides that Greg Allen made at the plate, Leo Castillo’s return to form, Yonathan Mendoza’s switch-hitting experiment, Ordomar Valdez’s ability to come off the bench and the adjustments Austin Fisher needs to make.

Torii Hunter returned to where it all started for him on Tuesday as he agreed to a one-year deal to rejoin the Twins, the team he originally broke into the big leagues with. The Dodgers and Reds also completed an interesting trade. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from the day as well as all of the non-tendered players.

With preparations already underway here at the IBI for the new 2015 Indians prospect rankings and also a new position-by-position breakdown, the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at values of all the minor league players that finished the season at Triple-A Columbus and Cleveland. Over the past few months during his research for the upcoming 2015 prospect listing he has spoken with numerous people within the Indians organization as well as scouts and personnel outside the organization, and shares those insights and more on pitchers like Austin Adams, Shawn Armstrong, Kyle Crockett and more.

With a light schedule around the Caribbean Leagues, this gives us a chance to highlight a few former Tribe players. One such former Tribe player is Mitch Talbot who made his offseason winter ball debut with four shutout innings. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps his outing and more as he takes us Around the Farm...

As many saw on Friday, the Athletics dealt Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays and like a lot of Indians fans, the IBI's Tony Lastoria came away less than impressed with the haul the Athletics got in return for Donaldson and was disappointed the Indians were not in on the action to land him. While Tony believes Donaldson was the perfect fit for the Indians, he wonders if the Indians were even a perfect fit with the Athletics. He also talks about the rebirth of Nick Hagadone and the Indians strength in left-handed relief options, the problems big spending can create and more.

With the calendar now flipping to December (!!) the winter ball regular season moves into the final month of play. With that we are going to see some familiar faces drop out and some new faces pop up over the next few weeks. One player who has popped onto the scene is fast rising shortstop prospect Erik Gonzalez started playing this past weekend in the Dominican Winter League. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps his showing as well as everyone else in the Indians system on Sunday...

While there were no big signings or blockbuster trades on Sunday, there was a lot of news throughout baseball. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps all the news and notes from the final day of November as it is the calm before the storm next weekend when the Winter Meetings start...

The blockbuster moves continue this offseason as the Athletics and Blue Jays completed a huge deal on Friday evening relocating star third baseman Josh Donaldson to Toronto in exchange for four players. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps the deal and runs down all of the other news and notes from the day...

Happy Thanksgiving! While everyone gets set to gobble down some turkey it is time to recap all the news and notes from around baseball on Wednesday. The Indians are looking for some bats, the Yasmany Tomas show has arrived in Arizona, several shortstops are being coveted in the trade market, and much more. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recaps it all...

Jared Robinson is about as confident a pitcher as you will find in the Indians minor league system. Selected in the 11th round out of this year’s draft out of Cerritos Junior College in California, the just turned 20-year old right-handed pitcher combines supreme confidence and some good stuff to get results on the mound. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recently sat down to talk to him about his pro debut and future as an Indian.

The Indians are considering a lot of options this offseason with changing the roster to improve it for next season. One thing they are considering is going outside the organization for help at third base both offensively and defensively, and apparently they have a good amount of interest in free agent Chase Headley. The IBI's Tony Lastoria talks about the Headley news and runs down all the news and rumors from around baseball on Tuesday.

A lot of attention is on the Red Sox at the moment after their blockbuster free agent signings of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval on Monday. The Red Sox are still looking to add more pieces through free agency, but suddenly the focus around baseball is who they may trade in the wake of their spending spree. With a surplus of outfielders there is talk they may trade Yoenis Cespedes, and the IBI's Tony Lastoria believes he would be a perfect fit for the Indians.

Monday is typically a slow night around winter ball since each league just has a smattering of games. Even with the light schedule, the Indians had a few players in action and the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes us Around the Farm to talk about catcher Roberto Perez's big night and more.

At the moment the Indians opening day five-man rotation is set to be Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer and T.J. House. Barring an injury this spring or a very surprising trade of one of them this offseason, the rotation is about as set as it can be at this point in the offseason. But what if a few of them struggle early next season? The IBI's Tony Lastoria discusses what could be a very interesting roster crunch if that happens. He also talks about the Drew Stubbs and David Murphy swap in right field last offseason, explains starting pitching depth and much more.

Several Indians were in action on Sunday and the IBI's Tony Lastoria provides the updates on how all of them did in our daily look Around the Farm. Tony also provides some updates on some injured players participating in winter ball, some role changes and much more.

According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the Indians and Diamondbacks have agreed to a trade where the Diamondbacks are sending right-handed pitcher Charles Brewer to the Indians for cash. The IBI's Tony Lastoria provides some quick thoughts on the trade, the reasoning behind it and who may be at risk of being removed from the roster.

The winter leagues in the Latin American countries provide an opportunity for players to play in more games and for Latin American players to play baseball in their home country. It gives some upper level minor league players a stage to showcase their talents and other players a chance to make up lost innings or at bats. In a piece that originally posted this time three years ago, the IBI's Tony Lastoria re-posts this piece with a few updates on the Winter Ball Experience for American players.

This is a continuation of this week’s edition of “Coach’s Corner” where the IBI's Tony Lastoria had a chance to sit down with High-A Carolina hitting coach Tony Mansolino. In part one they talked about players like Yandy Diaz, Todd Hankins, Erik Gonzalez, Anthony Galls, Joe Sever and LeVon Washington. In today’s second part they talked about the strides that Jeremy Lucas has made at the plate, the emergence of Yhoxian Medina, Logan Vick’s inconsistent season, the adjustment Torsten Boss worked on all season, and much more.

The Indians made their annual offseason 40-man roster adds on Thursday adding five players from their player development system in advance of the midnight roster deadline. Here are the thoughts from the IBI's Tony Lastoria on the decisions the Indians made to add those five players, a look at why each was added, who they left off that they may be most at risk of losing in the Rule 5 Draft, and much more.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!